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Trip Report 4/23 - 5/3/09, Part 3
Trip Report 4/23 - 5/3/09, Part 3
Trip Report 4/23 – 5/3/09, Part 3
Day 3 – Saturday, 4/25
Awoke to another beautiful day. Had another simple breakfast at “home”. Enjoyed a nice carrot bread that we bought at Buck’s Supermarket the day before. Tasted a lot like a West Indian Spice Bread. Very good.
After breakfast, off we went. We decided that we did not need to “crawl” through the Baths – as we had done that on a day sail a couple of years ago. We decided to do “new” things. So, we headed off to the Coppermine Ruins.
Took this cute shot of the airport from a road vantage point. Kind of cool with the cactus in the forefront and all. The “airport side” of the island was much like a Maine coast. Surf was very strong and did not look very “tropical” and “inviting” at all.
Also, noticed that on the island of Virgin Gorda – the wild animal of choice is definitely the GOAT. We saw quite a few about. All different shapes & sizes.
Again, can’t say enough about how easy it is to get around on Virgin Gorda. Very good signs and, as mentioned before, just a few main roads. We actually caught a good view of the airstrip when we were on the Coppermine Ruins road.
We really enjoyed our little stop at the Coppermine Ruins. As always, it is so much fun seeing spots of past times in such glorious settings. The fact that these ruins were literally cliff-side was absolutely gorgeous. We hadn’t realized til we were home & going through our photos that we had caught a pretty good aerial view of the ruins during our flight in.
Also, as happens so many times on vacation, we met a lovely couple who offered to take our photo. We offered to return the favor – but, they said that they had so many shots of themselves in this location that they really didn’t need one more. I think that this was like their 10th time or more on the island. They come back for 2 – 3 weeks every year.
Based on our (okay – my) research before our trip, it seemed that the best beaches on Virgin Gorda were suggested to be: Savannah Bay and Spring Bay (thanks, jmq). So, off to Spring Bay we went. We followed the signs to Spring Bay National Park. Nice little parking area. Then took the lovely little path, amidst towering palms, toward the beach.
Can you hear me say “Oh, my god”? It was absolutely breath-taking. That moment has only happened to us twice before. Once – our first time on Trunk Bay. The other, our first sight of Bottom Bay on Barbados. You have ALL seen tons of Trunk Bay shots. But, for those of you who might be curious about Bottom Bay in Barbados – here are a few shots. This beach is a photographer’s dream. NOT great for swimming, though – as there is a very strong surf. But, truly a special spot.
Once we saw Spring Bay, though, we said “Now you are talking!”. Beautiful setting – PLUS calm, clear waters & super soft sand.
Upon emerging from the path, we set foot on this lovely little patch of beach, with picnic tables and all. Saw this amazing POOL of water surrounded by HUGE boulders. Absolutely gorgeous!
We decided to continue on to our left & get to the main Spring Bay beach. Needed to navigate through some rocks along the way. But, ended up at the Spring Bay beach that so many talk about. Again, you can’t help but strike up conversations with either people who recount that this is their 7th or more time at Guavaberry or first-timers who vow to return.
This beach is right on the other side of the Baths. So, we were able to get this neat shot of one of the formations. I think it is the whale. We took some shots – but, truthfully we were disappointed. None of them truly captured the beauty of the place.
We hadn’t bothered with our snorkel gear – so, just swam around in the lovely waters off of Spring Bay. We kind of gave each other the look that kind of said “this is one place we NEED to visit again”. We were very envious of the Guavaberry Spring Bay guests who had beach chairs & looked like they were on their own private beach. We could now get the picture about why Guavaberry was so popular. It truly has the best beach on the island. Lovely view of the boulders and lovely views of boats moored off shore and of course gorgeous islands in the distance.
We then headed back over to the “pool” area. Again, we were lucky enough to make friends with a couple (and their son) from NH. We had LOTS in common to talk about. And – of course – they were amongst the aforementioned “repeat visitors” to Virgin Gorda. They have been guests at Guavaberry Spring Bay for numerous years during April school vacation. They LOVED the place & didn’t seem to think that they had a need to go anywhere else - which was completely understandable. They had that “we are at our vacation home” look about them. Very serene, very tranquil – very happy! The wife even mentioned seeing and getting a photo of that rare blooming flower that jmq had mentioned in a previous post. So, I was practically filling in her sentences for her. She thought she was telling me something new – but, I had already heard it all before. But, I really enjoyed seeing her joy about capturing that moment. She laughed about how many shots she took of that lovely flower!
Our talks definitely bolstered that plan in my mind – that another visit to Virgin Gorda would need to be in the works. And that a stay at Guavaberry was mandatory! We chit chatted away as our husbands bonded in the “pool”. Needless to say, we were in no hurry to head away from this paradise.
I also snapped this shot of spraying surf. Hate to tell you how long I waited to take this shot!!
Finally, when we could ignore our rumbling stomachs no longer, we headed less than a mile away to Mad Dog’s.
Good thing we weren’t completely starving to death – or we would have died. Service was definitely on “island-time”. Just one woman doing the order taking, the drink making and the food preparing. She was a sweetheart, though. No complaints at all about the quality. Delicious turkey sandwiches – which we realized after the fact could have been shared. And excellent Painkillers – which is always the main criteria of an establishment’s overall rating! Very quaint & islandy setting. Little building with outside seating on the porch. With the occasional pesky rooster waiting for scraps to fall from the table. Cute place!
After that excellent lunch, we made a quick stop back at Buck’s Supermarket. Then, headed back to Mango Bay for an afternoon of swimming, snorkeling, reading and lounging. Ahhh….. Life is good!! Can’t say enough about how wonderful it is to be staying somewhere where you can just get up from your lounge chair & walk steps to your unit. No getting into the jeep with sandy, wet feet and sandy, wet bathing suits. It was just wonderful.
Tonight was our night for our “special dinner’. We had made reservations months ago for dinner at the Rock Café for 7:30. Again, through research, this sounded like a MUST try. We were NOT disappointed. You arrive at a fairly traditional looking place. You walk inside into what appears to be a pretty large bar-type place. You then proceed to the other side of the room. The host then opened a door and led us into an “outside” area that was absolutely gorgeous. Open to they sky, a combination of natural and man-made surroundings. When making our reservation, we requested the best table in the house which was said to be set near natural boulders where they had added a man-made waterfall. We were seated at “our table”.
The dim lighting and overall ambiance was everything we could have asked for. A strong wind came up a couple of times – but, that just added to that outdoor ambiance. We did, unfortunately, have a table right near us with about 8 close friends – who of course got a little loud and rowdy. So, not quite as romantic as we would have hoped. But, certainly couldn’t fault them for having a good time.
The service was actually so-so. But, we really enjoyed our drinks and food. We both order The Charmer – which was chicken breast in dry martini, crème fraiche and fresh sage. It was amazing. Dessert was lovely key lime pie and tiramisu. Of course, needed to embarrass my husband by taking “food porn” shots. Always thinking of my forum-mates.
Back to Mango Bay for our last night on Virgin Gorda.
This was just a wonderful day from start to finish. Sad that we will be leaving this very simple, yet special, island tomorrow. But, oh darn – you mean we have to leave to go to St. John? Guess we will have to carry-on!
Day 3 – Saturday, 4/25
Awoke to another beautiful day. Had another simple breakfast at “home”. Enjoyed a nice carrot bread that we bought at Buck’s Supermarket the day before. Tasted a lot like a West Indian Spice Bread. Very good.
After breakfast, off we went. We decided that we did not need to “crawl” through the Baths – as we had done that on a day sail a couple of years ago. We decided to do “new” things. So, we headed off to the Coppermine Ruins.
Took this cute shot of the airport from a road vantage point. Kind of cool with the cactus in the forefront and all. The “airport side” of the island was much like a Maine coast. Surf was very strong and did not look very “tropical” and “inviting” at all.
Also, noticed that on the island of Virgin Gorda – the wild animal of choice is definitely the GOAT. We saw quite a few about. All different shapes & sizes.
Again, can’t say enough about how easy it is to get around on Virgin Gorda. Very good signs and, as mentioned before, just a few main roads. We actually caught a good view of the airstrip when we were on the Coppermine Ruins road.
We really enjoyed our little stop at the Coppermine Ruins. As always, it is so much fun seeing spots of past times in such glorious settings. The fact that these ruins were literally cliff-side was absolutely gorgeous. We hadn’t realized til we were home & going through our photos that we had caught a pretty good aerial view of the ruins during our flight in.
Also, as happens so many times on vacation, we met a lovely couple who offered to take our photo. We offered to return the favor – but, they said that they had so many shots of themselves in this location that they really didn’t need one more. I think that this was like their 10th time or more on the island. They come back for 2 – 3 weeks every year.
Based on our (okay – my) research before our trip, it seemed that the best beaches on Virgin Gorda were suggested to be: Savannah Bay and Spring Bay (thanks, jmq). So, off to Spring Bay we went. We followed the signs to Spring Bay National Park. Nice little parking area. Then took the lovely little path, amidst towering palms, toward the beach.
Can you hear me say “Oh, my god”? It was absolutely breath-taking. That moment has only happened to us twice before. Once – our first time on Trunk Bay. The other, our first sight of Bottom Bay on Barbados. You have ALL seen tons of Trunk Bay shots. But, for those of you who might be curious about Bottom Bay in Barbados – here are a few shots. This beach is a photographer’s dream. NOT great for swimming, though – as there is a very strong surf. But, truly a special spot.
Once we saw Spring Bay, though, we said “Now you are talking!”. Beautiful setting – PLUS calm, clear waters & super soft sand.
Upon emerging from the path, we set foot on this lovely little patch of beach, with picnic tables and all. Saw this amazing POOL of water surrounded by HUGE boulders. Absolutely gorgeous!
We decided to continue on to our left & get to the main Spring Bay beach. Needed to navigate through some rocks along the way. But, ended up at the Spring Bay beach that so many talk about. Again, you can’t help but strike up conversations with either people who recount that this is their 7th or more time at Guavaberry or first-timers who vow to return.
This beach is right on the other side of the Baths. So, we were able to get this neat shot of one of the formations. I think it is the whale. We took some shots – but, truthfully we were disappointed. None of them truly captured the beauty of the place.
We hadn’t bothered with our snorkel gear – so, just swam around in the lovely waters off of Spring Bay. We kind of gave each other the look that kind of said “this is one place we NEED to visit again”. We were very envious of the Guavaberry Spring Bay guests who had beach chairs & looked like they were on their own private beach. We could now get the picture about why Guavaberry was so popular. It truly has the best beach on the island. Lovely view of the boulders and lovely views of boats moored off shore and of course gorgeous islands in the distance.
We then headed back over to the “pool” area. Again, we were lucky enough to make friends with a couple (and their son) from NH. We had LOTS in common to talk about. And – of course – they were amongst the aforementioned “repeat visitors” to Virgin Gorda. They have been guests at Guavaberry Spring Bay for numerous years during April school vacation. They LOVED the place & didn’t seem to think that they had a need to go anywhere else - which was completely understandable. They had that “we are at our vacation home” look about them. Very serene, very tranquil – very happy! The wife even mentioned seeing and getting a photo of that rare blooming flower that jmq had mentioned in a previous post. So, I was practically filling in her sentences for her. She thought she was telling me something new – but, I had already heard it all before. But, I really enjoyed seeing her joy about capturing that moment. She laughed about how many shots she took of that lovely flower!
Our talks definitely bolstered that plan in my mind – that another visit to Virgin Gorda would need to be in the works. And that a stay at Guavaberry was mandatory! We chit chatted away as our husbands bonded in the “pool”. Needless to say, we were in no hurry to head away from this paradise.
I also snapped this shot of spraying surf. Hate to tell you how long I waited to take this shot!!
Finally, when we could ignore our rumbling stomachs no longer, we headed less than a mile away to Mad Dog’s.
Good thing we weren’t completely starving to death – or we would have died. Service was definitely on “island-time”. Just one woman doing the order taking, the drink making and the food preparing. She was a sweetheart, though. No complaints at all about the quality. Delicious turkey sandwiches – which we realized after the fact could have been shared. And excellent Painkillers – which is always the main criteria of an establishment’s overall rating! Very quaint & islandy setting. Little building with outside seating on the porch. With the occasional pesky rooster waiting for scraps to fall from the table. Cute place!
After that excellent lunch, we made a quick stop back at Buck’s Supermarket. Then, headed back to Mango Bay for an afternoon of swimming, snorkeling, reading and lounging. Ahhh….. Life is good!! Can’t say enough about how wonderful it is to be staying somewhere where you can just get up from your lounge chair & walk steps to your unit. No getting into the jeep with sandy, wet feet and sandy, wet bathing suits. It was just wonderful.
Tonight was our night for our “special dinner’. We had made reservations months ago for dinner at the Rock Café for 7:30. Again, through research, this sounded like a MUST try. We were NOT disappointed. You arrive at a fairly traditional looking place. You walk inside into what appears to be a pretty large bar-type place. You then proceed to the other side of the room. The host then opened a door and led us into an “outside” area that was absolutely gorgeous. Open to they sky, a combination of natural and man-made surroundings. When making our reservation, we requested the best table in the house which was said to be set near natural boulders where they had added a man-made waterfall. We were seated at “our table”.
The dim lighting and overall ambiance was everything we could have asked for. A strong wind came up a couple of times – but, that just added to that outdoor ambiance. We did, unfortunately, have a table right near us with about 8 close friends – who of course got a little loud and rowdy. So, not quite as romantic as we would have hoped. But, certainly couldn’t fault them for having a good time.
The service was actually so-so. But, we really enjoyed our drinks and food. We both order The Charmer – which was chicken breast in dry martini, crème fraiche and fresh sage. It was amazing. Dessert was lovely key lime pie and tiramisu. Of course, needed to embarrass my husband by taking “food porn” shots. Always thinking of my forum-mates.
Back to Mango Bay for our last night on Virgin Gorda.
This was just a wonderful day from start to finish. Sad that we will be leaving this very simple, yet special, island tomorrow. But, oh darn – you mean we have to leave to go to St. John? Guess we will have to carry-on!
We have also fallen in love with Virgin Gorda. We've been there two years in a row and have stayed at Guavaberry both times. You are right - it is fantastic.
We'll be headed back sometime in the next year for more. Spring Bay is probably the prettiest place I've ever been! Oh - and we also love Saba Rock.
Keep them coming!
Ken
We'll be headed back sometime in the next year for more. Spring Bay is probably the prettiest place I've ever been! Oh - and we also love Saba Rock.
Keep them coming!
Ken
My St. John Photos: http://rcplanefan.zenfolio.com/
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LandLockedBeachLover
- Posts: 374
- Joined: Mon Nov 06, 2006 9:16 am
- Location: St. Louis, MO
! Thanks for sharing! I have Spring Bay and Saba Rock on my list for Virgin Gorda. We always just explore around the Baths, and I was looking for more ideas!Our son LOVED the Cooper Mine, we visited it twice and he still talks about "his castle"
Our visit to Spring was the best day of our trip, what a great beach.
Your posts are openning up a flood of memories for me. Thanks!
As I mentioned in my reply to #2, we had horrible weather during our VG trip. That plus other challenges I wasn't expecting, clouded my intial feelings about VG but seeing all your great pictures and reliving it though trip reports is making me want to return asap.
Our visit to Spring was the best day of our trip, what a great beach.
Your posts are openning up a flood of memories for me. Thanks!
As I mentioned in my reply to #2, we had horrible weather during our VG trip. That plus other challenges I wasn't expecting, clouded my intial feelings about VG but seeing all your great pictures and reliving it though trip reports is making me want to return asap.
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Rachelle & Joe
- Posts: 677
- Joined: Sat Nov 18, 2006 4:23 pm
- Location: ohio
trip report 4-23 - 5-3 part 3
Thanks for sharing Your TR & pic's ! ! Beautiful shots of bch. on Barbados, can appreciate your waiting it out for the sea spray shot 
we also really enjoyed our day at the Bath's & bch ! Thanks !
Sue - those are some great shots. Very enjoyable report as always! (but is giving me serious DIF however).
Bottom Bay looks incredible.
The dining experience would be just about perfect at the Rock Cafe if it wasnt for the indifferent service.
Perfect week+ on VG might be 4 days at Mahoe and 4 days at Guavaberry, maybe throw in a daytrip to Anegada.
The VG airport is closed now for that upgrading that will allow small jets (boo!) and Cape Air (yay!) to fly in.
I think this is the "whale rock", as viewed one beach up to the right of Spring Bay.
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/zp ... site"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8poT_jdtsYw/SGqJa ... 3.JPG"></a>
And then this beach (Valley Trunk) one more beach up after a scramble over some rocks which is just about the most spectacular beach we have set foot on.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmq/147659134/" title="VG11 valley trunk31F by jmq, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/53/14765 ... 716d99.jpg" width="500" height="310" alt="VG11 valley trunk31F"></a>
Bottom Bay looks incredible.
The dining experience would be just about perfect at the Rock Cafe if it wasnt for the indifferent service.
Perfect week+ on VG might be 4 days at Mahoe and 4 days at Guavaberry, maybe throw in a daytrip to Anegada.
The VG airport is closed now for that upgrading that will allow small jets (boo!) and Cape Air (yay!) to fly in.
I think this is the "whale rock", as viewed one beach up to the right of Spring Bay.
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/zp ... site"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8poT_jdtsYw/SGqJa ... 3.JPG"></a>
And then this beach (Valley Trunk) one more beach up after a scramble over some rocks which is just about the most spectacular beach we have set foot on.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmq/147659134/" title="VG11 valley trunk31F by jmq, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/53/14765 ... 716d99.jpg" width="500" height="310" alt="VG11 valley trunk31F"></a>
When we come to place where the sea and the sky collide
Throw me over the edge and let my spirit glide
Throw me over the edge and let my spirit glide